Monday, June 18, 2012

BSD. Blogger Bites Bullet (Hareidi and Proud)

UPDATED 2:30PM. I have removed some of the more macabre references. I think it may be somewhat creepy for live (former) bloggers to read of their "demise". Apologies if anyone was offended.

After 3 months of intense blogging, Chareidi and Proud has hung up his cleats.
I am sorry to see him go. I have long advocated for Agudah or some other organization to hire a full time blogger to counter the negative blogs that attack them on a daily basis.

Such a job is not without pitfalls. When one grapples in the mud, one gets dirty. Fellow blogger BOF has made a career of debating the Bear in his own den. Yet no one knows whether exposing oneself to foreign ideas - what affect it has on one's soul.

Inevitably, the Agudah will one day have their own website, their own blog and their own bloggers. I am told the printing press was not received favorably, as it made it easy to publish Kefirah and disseminate it. Nor was the telephone or automobile received with open arms. Chadash Asur Min HaTorah!

Yes, each new technology has its challenges, and we must learn to channel them favorably.

HAP burst onto the blogging scene with a mission to counteract the daily venom spewed by various bloggers. I must say he admirably did a fine job. I did not necessarily agree with some of his "tone", yet he did not act alone, claiming his Rav supported him fully.

Yet after the Asifa, it became increasingly difficult to defend his Internet activity. It took great resolve nonetheless, to listen to his mentor and cease blogging cold turkey.

Whereas NotBrisk quit and was never heard from again, my dear friend BOF has retired several times and yet we were able to make the Brocha of Mechayeh HaMeisim on his return.

My solution for HAP is to have an organization hire him as their PR man. He can then blog using the Hetter of Parnassah.

Then I will be happy to make the Brocha Mechayeh "Hameisim" with Kavannah.
Please come back!

H&P was never on the same level of Not- Brisk. The latter had a genuine mesorah to transmit, a perspective within the charedi world, and even more sublime a perspective within the Litvish-Yeshivish world. He didn't come to the internet to tscheppe and score points against RHM. He came because he felt the oylum was too removed from the genuine historical and contemporary world of advanced bnei torah and baalei musar. Out of motives of love and respect he wanted to show the greatness and sophistication of this world. By way of contrast, my impression of H&P was that he was fully acculturated, and in all liklihood a college graduate. His raison d'etre was negative all the way down, and so were the dominant emotions. If it ever came a point when he would need to idealize charedi life, he would find it difficult. The hysterical anti-charedi reactions to the combo of their banning the internet and protecting molestors is currently growing so quickly, H&P was playing a positive role in being anti-anti-charedi, but imo his intense negativity would have over time limited his influence.